Seven Plagues of Egypt. Interesting facts about the ten plagues of Egypt

priest Vadim Markin

Alexander Tkachenko

Metropolitan Kaluga and Borovsky Clement

M. McAffee

Dorian G. Coover Cox

Egyptian executions- ten punishments of God that befell Egypt for Pharaoh’s refusal to release the people of Israel from Egyptian captivity. Described in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus ().

The religion of Egypt at that time was polytheism - belief in several deities. The Egyptian pantheon included a large number of deities of varying significance. Each city had its own, especially revered cults. Natural phenomena were also deified: the sun, stars, wind, natural disasters. Animals, birds, reptiles and even insects also became objects of worship.

In addition, the ancient Egyptians mixed human and animal principles in their beliefs. An example is the goddess Sakhmet, a healer of diseases, depicted as a woman with the face of a lioness. Many pharaohs, during their lifetime, identified themselves with the sphinxes and ordered that this be imprinted in stone. A number of sphinx statues, now in the Cairo Museum, testify to this. Some of them have survived to this day.

One of the key roles in the religion of Egypt was played by the pharaoh himself, who acted as the only “mediator” between people and gods. The pharaoh was the supreme ruler and at the same time the high priest.

According to the beliefs of the Egyptians, the first pharaoh was the god Ra himself. Other gods ruled behind him. Later, the son of Osiris and Isis, the god Horus, appears on the throne. The choir was considered the prototype of all Egyptian pharaohs, and the pharaohs themselves were its earthly embodiment. Every real pharaoh was considered a descendant of both Ra and Horus.

From his very birth, the pharaoh was revered as both the supreme ruler and the deity. It is quite natural that the ruler of Egypt asked Moses: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him [and] let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (). Moses' request was immediately rejected by Pharaoh. Then the Lord said something very unusual to Moses: “Look, I have made you God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet” (). Thus, the pharaoh had a “rival”. The living God of Israel confronted one of the earthly gods.

When reading the story of the ten plagues, a phrase that is often repeated is: “ And you will know that I am the Lord your God"(; ; ; ; ). This phrase emphasizes the meaning of everything that is happening. The Lord wanted to show both the Egyptians and the Jews that He was the true, all-powerful God. Therefore, even to Pharaoh himself, the Lord said at the very height of the 10 Egyptian plagues: “I have kept you so that I may show My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth.”().

Ten Egyptian plagues followed one after another, after Pharaoh’s next refusal to let the Israeli people go:

1. Turning water into blood ()
2. Invasion of toads ()
3. Invasion of midges ()
4. Punishment by dog ​​flies ()
5. Cattle pestilence ()
6. Ulcers and boils ()
7. Thunder, lightning and fiery hail ()
8. Locust invasion ()
9. Dark ()
10. Death of the firstborn ().

Some interpreters point out that the Egyptian executions consistently humiliated and put to shame the Egyptian idols (Ra, Isis, Hapi, Amun, etc.), who were unable to protect those areas in which the Egyptians attributed influence to them.

The total duration of executions falls within the period from July of one year to March of the next.

All ten Egyptian plagues are reflected in the psalms and.

Psalm 77:41-51 «… they did not remember His hand, the day when He delivered them from oppression, when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the field of Zoan; and turned their rivers and their streams into blood so that they cannot drink; sent to them insects to sting them, and toads to destroy them; gave their earthly growths to the caterpillar and their labor - locusts; the grapes beat them hail and their sycamores with ice; their cattle were given over to hail, and their flocks to lightning; sent upon them the flame of His wrath, and indignation, and wrath and disaster, an embassy of evil angels; He made the path equal to His wrath, He did not protect their souls from death, and the cattle betrayed them pestilence; amazed everyone firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of strength in the tents of Ham»;
Psalm 104:26-36 « He sent Moses His servant Aaron, whom He had chosen. They showed among them the words of His signs and His wonders in the land of Ham. Sent darkness and made darkness and did not resist His word. He turned their water into blood and killed their fish. The earth has produced many of them toads even in the chamber of their kings. He said, and different people came insects, sketches throughout all their borders. Instead of rain he sent them hail The fire burned upon their land, and smote their grapes and their fig trees, and crushed the trees within their borders. He said and came locusts and caterpillars without number; and they ate up all the grass of their land, and ate the fruit of their fields. And struck everyone firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their strength».

Priest Gennady Egorov. "Holy Scripture of the Old Testament":
What is Pharaoh's fault if God, as it is said, "hardened the heart" his ()? After all, in this case, Pharaoh turns out to be just a toy in the hands of God? This is not entirely true. The same action of God affects different people differently, depending on their own disposition. God’s assistance to the Israelites serves as a strengthening of faith for the Israelis, and for Pharaoh as a source of increasingly fierce resistance (cf. "Pharaoh's heart was hardened"; ). “The point is not that opposition was implanted in the soul of Pharaoh by divine will, but that he, by his own choice, due to a tendency to vice, did not accept arguments that softened this opposition.” The more God shows His miracles and helps the Israelites, the more Pharaoh becomes embittered. Just as in the Gospel story we see: the more the Lord Jesus Christ reveals His messianic dignity, reveals His divinity, the more and more madly the opponents take up arms against Him.

New Geneva Bible Commentary:
“I will harden the heart of Pharaoh” (). This expression means “I will make it hard” rather than “cruel.” In other words, the Lord will not influence Pharaoh in any way to change his intentions; Moses will convince Pharaoh with words and signs.”

Lopukhin's Explanatory Bible:
Pharaoh himself is the culprit of this state insofar as, due to his pride and self-interest, he does not want to submit to the highest divine will recognized by himself and those around him (;): during the execution he is ready to release the Jews, but after it has passed he refuses to do so. But, on the other hand, Pharaoh’s sinful inclination would not have developed to such an extent if the divine command to release the Jews had not been addressed to him. In this regard, God is the author of the hardness of his heart.

Interpreters have varied opinions regarding the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, which is here attributed to God. There are only ten such statements. Eight of them (; ; ; ; ) contain the word chazaq, which means that the Lord made Pharaoh's heart “hard,” so that his feelings towards Israel did not change. Another Hebrew word used is qashah, which means that the Lord made Pharaoh's heart “hard” or “unfeeling.” The third word used in verse 10:1 is kabed, which indicates that God made Pharaoh's heart "heavy" or insensitive to divine influence. An examination of the context reveals that these various words are used more or less interchangeably.

The other ten statements indicate that Pharaoh himself hardened his heart. Four of them (; ; ). He also continued to refuse after the fourth and fifth plagues, which fell on the Egyptians, but did not touch the Israelites, which was reported to the king (). The hardness of his heart is even more obvious in the violation of the promise to release Israel on the condition that Moses and Aaron stop the execution, and in his forced admission of his sin (). Thus, when Moses was told before coming to Egypt that the Lord would harden the heart of Pharaoh (). But just as the sun acts differently on different materials in accordance with their nature - melts wax, but makes clay hard, for example, so the action of the Spirit of God on the hearts of people produces a different effect depending on the state of the heart. The repentant sinner allows the Holy Spirit to lead him to change and salvation, but the unrepentant one hardens his heart more and more. The same manifestation of God's mercy in one case leads to salvation and life, and in another to condemnation and death - in each case according to the person's own choice.

Promising that otherwise God would punish Egypt. Pharaoh did not listen, and 10 disasters were brought upon Egypt, and each time after Pharaoh’s new refusal to let the Jews go, another disaster followed:

1. Punishment by blood.
2. Execution by toads.
3. Invasion of blood-sucking insects (midges, lice, bedbugs).
4. Punishment by dog ​​flies.
5. Cattle pestilence.
6. Ulcers and boils.
7. Thunder, lightning and fiery hail.
8. Locust invasion.
9. Unusual darkness (Egyptian darkness).
10. Death of the firstborn.

Punishment by blood

Ulcers and boils

After this, the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to take a handful of furnace soot and throw it high up in front of Pharaoh. This they did, and the bodies of the Egyptians and animals were covered with their terrible sores and boils.

And Pharaoh was afraid that for the rest of his life he would suffer and itch because of ulcers and boils and decided to let the Jews go. But God hardened his heart and gave him courage to act in accordance with his convictions, for he wanted Pharaoh to let the Jews go, not out of fear, but out of the realization that no earthly king could argue with God. And again Pharaoh did not let the Jews go (Ex.).

Then God struck Egypt for the seventh time:

Thunder, lightning and fiery hail

A storm began, thunder roared, lightning flashed, and a hail of fire fell on Egypt.

The Egyptians saw that there was a flame burning in each hailstone and were horrified, because they realized that this was the wrath of the One who could change the nature of things. Pharaoh then bowed to Moses and Aaron and asked them to pray to God so that the hail would stop, promising that he would release the Jews. Moses prayed to God, and the hail stopped. But again the pharaoh did not keep his promise.

And the eighth plague befell Egypt:

Locust invasion

A strong wind blew, and behind the wind hordes of locusts flew into Egypt, devouring all the greenery down to the last blade of grass on the land of Egypt.
And again Pharaoh asked Moses to beg for mercy from God, and again promised to release the Jews. Moses called to God, and the wind blew in the other direction, and it carried away all the locusts. But God again strengthened Pharaoh’s heart, and again he did not let the children of Israel go.
And the ninth plague began:

Unusual darkness

The darkness that fell on Egypt was unusual, it was thick and dense, so that you could even touch it; and candles and torches could not dispel the darkness. Only the Jews had light, while the Egyptians were forced to move by touch. However, soon the darkness began to thicken, hindering the movements of the Egyptians, and now they could not even move.

And Pharaoh called Moses and told him that he was releasing the Jews, only they must leave their livestock. However, Moses told Pharaoh that the Jews would not abandon their livestock. Then Pharaoh ordered Moses to leave and not come again, promising that if he came, he would be executed. And then Moses said that he would not come again, but that Egypt would suffer a punishment more terrible than all the previous ones combined, for all the first-born sons would perish in Egypt.

Execution of the firstborn

And the punishment promised by Moses did not escape Egypt, and the widespread death of the firstborn followed at midnight.

After all the firstborn children in Egypt (except the Jewish ones) died in one night, Pharaoh gave in and allowed the Jews to leave Egypt, thus beginning the Exodus.

Historicity of the plot

Criticism

The history of Egypt, documented in sufficient detail by numerous hieroglyphic texts, does not mention either the “plagues of Egypt” in the form as they are described in the Bible, or any other events that could be associated with these plagues. Although there were many tragic events in the history of Ancient Egypt (for example, the Hyksos invasion and uprisings that led the country into complete chaos), none of these events can be directly compared with the description of the “plagues of Egypt.” [ ]

Moreover, it is unknown under which pharaoh and even during which dynasty the exodus of Jews from Egypt took place. If the Egyptian executions took place, then in all likelihood this event was local and so insignificant that it did not arouse interest among Egyptian society and was not reflected in any written monuments except the Bible. [ ]

There are also inconsistencies in the description: for example, if the fifth plague destroyed all Egyptian cattle, then it is not known which cattle’s first birth was destroyed during the tenth (Ex.), as well as what animals were drawn by the 600 chariots that were part of the Pharaoh’s army, which began to persecute Jews ().

Reply to criticism

However, the absence of written evidence about the ten plagues of Egypt is often explained by the fact that, as stated in the Ipuwer papyrus, all the scribes of Egypt were killed, and their records were scattered to the wind. Some researchers believe that the events of the Egyptian plagues were so fresh in the memory of the Egyptians that they did not consider it necessary to write down their history and make public the humiliation of the Egyptian people and the Jews’ withdrawal from subordination to the pharaoh. [ ]

It should also be taken into account that Egypt was constantly balancing on the brink of civil war with the Hyksos. As described in the Bible, after the death of the pharaoh, the new pharaoh forced the Jews to build a new capital, Raamses, a couple of kilometers from the capital of Avaris, which had been ruled by the Hyksos since ancient times. Moses, who killed the overseer, apparently worked at this construction site (for, upon returning, he began the Exodus of the Jews precisely from Rameses). Considering that 600 thousand Jewish men left - three times more than the population of Avaris at that time - we can assume that these were the “Asians” whom the pharaoh pursued and who are described in the Ipuver papyrus (which also mentions the “reddened sea”, “poisoned water”) " and "pestilence").

Cattle could be bred from Jewish animals that were not subject to pestilence, and could also be purchased in other countries.

Some researchers refer to the Ipuwer papyrus, finding in it many coincidences with the events described in the Bible. On this basis, it is concluded that the “plagues of Egypt” may have occurred during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II and his son Merneptah.

Scientific research

Attempts are being made to scientifically substantiate the 10 Plagues of Egypt. A group of European scientists with the director of the New York Department of Health (English) Russian epidemiologist John Marr (German) Russian scientifically substantiated and linked into a logical sequence the “10 Plagues of Egypt”, in particular:

• The reddening of the water is the well-known phenomenon of “red tides” - blooms of Physteria algae that emit toxins and absorb oxygen, causing fish deaths and mass exodus of toads. (According to amphibiologist Dr. Richard Vasasiuk, the word used in the Bible can mean any type of tailless amphibian, according to his version it was toads of the genus “bufo”; each toad lays a million eggs, which the dead fish stopped eating, causing a population explosion).
• Dying toads and rotting fish cause the arrival of flies that carry the infection; the fly was accurately identified by its characteristics as culicoides (English) Russian(a type of biting midge). (In ancient times there was no classification of flies, so the scientists recruited Richard Brown, Andrew Spielman, director of the Mississippi Museum of Entomology, and Roger Breese, director of the US Department of Agriculture's Division of Animal Disease Research, to the study.)
• The infectious midge causes subsequent executions - death of livestock and ulcers, identified as signs of glanders infection, transmitted by flies over a distance of 1.5 km.
• Thunder, lightning and fiery hail - hints at the volcanic theory. The Bible directly describes the column of smoke and fire in the distance, to which Moses led the Jews for 11 days, debris falling from the sky, the mountain shaking underfoot. (Ex., Ex., Ex., Ex., Deut.)
• 3 days without the Sun is a sandstorm that lasted not the usual 1-2 days, but 3 days. The cause of the prolonged storm could be the destruction of crops and flora by locusts (the winds were not restrained by leaves) or a possible volcanic eruption, which caused climatic anomalies and a volcanic winter.
• The death of firstborns is explained by toxins of the fungus Stachybotrys atra (English) Russian, bred in the upper layer of grain reserves, getting there from water or locust excrement. Contagion could have been the result of a combination of a number of cultural factors. According to Egyptian tradition, the eldest sons ate first in the family, receiving a double portion; Cattle eat the same way - the strongest, oldest animal makes its way to the feeder first. The firstborns were the first to be poisoned, receiving a double portion from the upper, contaminated grain reserves. The Jews did not suffer from this execution, because they settled far from large Egyptian cities and had independent food supplies. In addition, they were shepherds, not farmers, and a significant proportion of their diet was not grain, like the Egyptians, but meat and milk.

The volcanic theory of the Exodus is substantiated, that Executions are phenomena accompanying the explosion of volcanoes (in particular, the reddening of water).

Executions in culture and art

Music

• The story of the Exodus formed the basis of the first part of George Handel’s oratorio “Israel in Egypt” (English: Israel in Egypt; 1739).
• The lyrics of the song “Creeping Death” (1984) by Metallica are written on behalf of the angel of death, describing the 10 plagues of Egypt.
• The second album “Exodus” by the Russian group “Shokran” is entirely dedicated to the 10 executions, all 10 tracks of the album are named according to the names of the executions, and the lyrics describe the event of each execution [

FIRST EXECUTION: WATER TURNS TO BLOOD

Exodus 7:19-25 And Aaron lifted up his rod and struck the water of the river before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died out, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water from the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the Magi of Egypt did the same with their spells. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened...

What was this execution aimed at?

The Nile River was considered one of the deities of Egypt, to which Egypt owed its birth, its existence and prosperity.
“In Ancient Egypt, the Nile, the “great river,” has always been the source of life, the common property of two lands - Upper and Lower Egypt. Herodotus’s saying is widely known: “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” Many texts emphasize the cosmic nature of the Nile, its underground and heavenly character.

There were ideas according to which the boat of the Sun sails along the celestial Nile during the day. There is also the Nile underground, along which the Sun, having descended beyond the horizon, travels at night. The image of the underground Nile was closely associated with death, with the souls of the dead and their judgment in the afterlife. Addressing God, the Egyptian said: “You created the Nile in the underworld and brought it to earth at your will, in order to prolong the life of people, just as you gave them life by creating them.”

The god Hapi (who was depicted as a corpulent man with vessels in his hands from which water flows) was an image of the Nile flowing on earth. He was revered as “the high Nile, which gives life to the whole country with its nourishment,” as the giver of moisture and harvest. According to legend, the cave from where God watched over the river under his control was located a little south of Aswan, on the island of Biga at the first cataract. The Nile itself was inhabited by good and evil deities in the form of animals: crocodiles, hippos, frogs, scorpions, snakes. Hapi's father was the primeval ocean Nun. The holiday dedicated to Khapi was timed to coincide with the beginning of the Nile flood. On this day, sacrifices were made to him, papyrus scrolls with lists of gifts were thrown into the river.”

Another deity of the Nile, Khnum (who was revered by the Egyptians as a creator god who created man on a potter's wheel) was also considered the guardian of the sources of the Nile and was depicted as a man with the head of a ram with spirally twisted horns. Other deity– Sebek – in Egyptian mythology was considered the god of water and the flood of the Nile. Since his sacred animal was the crocodile, he was most often depicted as a crocodile man or a man with the head of a crocodile.

The Egyptians worshiped not only the Nile and the patron idols of the Nile, but also to some fish that lived in this river.
To shame all these Egyptian deities, the Lord God turned the water of the Nile into blood, and as a result the water became unfit for drinking and irrigating the land, and all the fish died out.

It should be noted that the Egyptian sorcerers were able to repeat this miracle with their witchcraft powers, which contributed to the hardening of the pharaoh’s heart and doubled the gravity of this execution.

SECOND EXECUTION: TOADS

Exodus 8:1-14“And the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, that they may serve Me; if you do not agree to let go, then behold, I infest your entire region with toads; and the river will swarm with frogs, and they will come out and enter into your house, and into your bedroom, and onto your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls, and onto you and onto the people. yours, and frogs shall come upon all your servants. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand and your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the lakes, and bring out frogs in the land of Egypt. Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and frogs came out and covered the land of Egypt.

“In Ancient Egypt with the head of a frog (or zha b) depicted the male primal deities of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad - the great eight primordial deities. The forces of primordial Chaos were opposed by creative forces - four pairs of deities personifying the elements. The male deities of the eight - Huk (Infinity), Nun (Water), Kuk (Darkness) and Amon ("Invisible", that is, Air) - had the appearance of people with the heads of frogs. They corresponded to female deities with snake heads.

Frogs were credited with power over floods Nile, on which the harvest depended. Small frogs appeared in the river a few days before it flooded and were therefore considered harbingers of fertility. In addition, in Egypt there was a belief that the frog had the ability of spontaneous generation, so it was associated with the afterlife cult and resurrection after death. It was considered a sacred animal of the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility Heket - one of the symbols of immortality. [Since her sacred animal is a frog, she was depicted as a frog or a woman with a frog on her head.]. The frog goddess helped women in labor, and in the afterlife - the resurrection of the dead.

The Lord God laughed at superstition Egyptians and over their deities, sending hordes of toads and frogs throughout Egypt. At the word of Moses, frogs came out of the Nile River and filled all the dwellings of the Egyptians.

Sorcerers were also able to imitate this miracle, but since they were unable to rid the country of the plague of frogs, Pharaoh became convinced of God's superiority and even asked Moses and Aaron to pray for him and even promised Moses that he would let the people of Israel go into the wilderness for a while: verse 8 “And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and he said, “Pray to the Lord that He will remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people of Israel sacrifice to the Lord.” However, then he became hardened in heart and changed his mind.

THIRD EXECUTION: midges

Exodus 8:15-19 « And Pharaoh saw that he was relieved, and he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the ground, and the dust will become midges throughout all the land of Egypt. So they did: Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the ground, and midges appeared on people and on cattle. All the dust of the earth became midges throughout the whole land of Egypt. The Magi also tried to produce midges with their spells, but they could not. And there were midges on people and livestock. And the wise men said to Pharaoh: This is the finger of God. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken.”

What were these midges? Theologians' opinions were divided. According to the Septuagint translation (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), at the blow of the rod, many “sknieps” appeared from the ground. This is what is written about this in Psalm 104:31 “He spoke, and various insects came and swarmed throughout all their borders.” In the old days, lice were called lice in Rus'. This was a translation from the original Bible, where the word “kinnim” is used.

The ancient Greek philosophers Philo and Origen believed that these were midges and mosquitoes - a common scourge of Egypt during periods of flooding of the Nile. Other philosophers and researchers (such as Josephus) take a different point of view, understanding the word “kinnim” as lice or fleas. This is exactly how this word is translated from Syriac and Arabic.

In accordance with Lopukhin's Explanatory Bible,“Kinnim, according to the biblical narrative, come out of the dust of the ground, while mosquitoes appear “out of water” regarding mosquitoes it cannot be said that they “appeared on people and on livestock” (verse 17); Finally, in the Talmud the word “kinna” means “louse.” The reading of LXX - “sknifeV” does not contradict this understanding. The use of this expression by the ancient Greek authors - Theophrastus, Aetius, Aristophanes - shows that this term means grass louse, worms, and fleas.”

Anyway, This execution was aimed at shaming the Egyptian deities of earth, sky, air and health, who were unable to protect the people and livestock of Egypt from the invasion of midges.

The sorcerers were unable to reproduce this miracle and admitted their powerlessness, recognizing this execution as the “finger of God.” They stopped competing with Moses, recognized the power of God and therefore began to advise Pharaoh to release the Jews at the word of Moses.

FOURTH PLEASURE: DOG FLIES

Exodus 8:20-32“And the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early tomorrow and appear before Pharaoh. Behold, he will go to the water, and you say to him: Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. But if you do not let My people go, then behold, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and on your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians will be filled with swarms of flies, and the very land where they live; And in that day I will separate the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, and there will be no swarms of flies there, so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a division between My people and your people.

Tomorrow there will be this sign. So the Lord did: a multitude of dog flies flew into the house of the Pharaohs, and into the houses of his servants, and into the whole land of Egypt: the land perished from the dog flies. And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said: Go, sacrifice to your God in this land. But Moses said: this cannot be done, for our sacrifice to the Lord our God is disgusting for the Egyptians: if we begin to offer a sacrifice disgusting for the Egyptians in their eyes, will they not stone us? We will go into the desert, a three-day journey, and offer sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He will tell us.

And Pharaoh said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert, but do not go far; pray for me. Moses said: Behold, I will leave you and pray to the Lord, and the flies of the dogs will be removed from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people tomorrow, only let Pharaoh stop deceiving, not letting the people go sacrifice to the Lord. And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses, and removed the swarming flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people: not one remained. But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time and did not let the people go.”

Clouds of these flies covered the people and filled the houses of the Egyptians.“According to Philo, the insect that served as the instrument of the fourth plague combined the properties of flies and dogs and was distinguished by its ferocity and persistence. From a distance, like an arrow, it rushed towards a person or animal and, quickly attacking, dug its sting into the body and seemed to stick to it” (Lopukhin’s Explanatory Bible). Most likely, dog flies refer to gadflies, which haunted the Egyptians and their herds of animals.

The main lesson of this plague was that God openly revealed to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians the difference between them and the Jews. Dog flies were everywhere except for the region of Goshen, where the Jews lived; they were in all the houses except the houses of the Israelites: verses 22-23 “...I will separate in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, and there will be no flies there, so that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a division between My people and your people.”

This division between the two peoples and their areas of residence in Egypt showed Pharaoh that the God of Israel was the Lord who sent the Egyptian plagues, and that He was the God over Egypt, surpassing in strength and power all the Egyptian deities and idols.

FIFTH PECUTION: PLASTER

Exodus 9:1-7 " And the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me; For if you do not want to let go and still hold on to him, then behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your livestock, which is in the field, on horses, on donkeys, on camels, on oxen and sheep: there will be a very serious pestilence; and the Lord will divide between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and of all the cattle of the children of Israel nothing shall die.

And the Lord appointed a time saying: Tomorrow the Lord will do this in this land. And the Lord did this the next day, and all the cattle of Egypt died; and none of the livestock of the children of Israel died. Pharaoh sent to find out, and behold, none of the livestock of Israel died. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

Pestilence is an animal disease. A big blow to the Egyptian gods. The bull and cow were considered the main deities of the Egyptians and were sacred animals of Egypt. Sacrifices and incense were offered to them. The bull was kept in luxury in many Egyptian temples. After death, such a bull was embalmed and, with a ceremony befitting only a king, buried in a magnificent sarcophagus.

In addition, many Egyptian deities were depicted with the head or body of a calf or cow. Thus, Apis was considered the god of fertility; he was depicted in the form of a bull with a solar disk. Amun, being the patron saint of the city of Thebes, was also the god of air and harvest, the creator of the world; depicted with the head of a man, and sometimes a bull or ram, with a two-pronged crown and a long scepter in his hand. The goddess Isis was often depicted as a woman with cow horns and a sun disk on her forehead, holding a stalk of papyrus in her hand.

Hathor - goddess of love and fate, goddess of the sky; nurse of the pharaohs and ruler of distant countries. She was depicted as a cow or a woman with cow horns, sometimes with only one ears. In general, the Egyptians depicted many of their gods with the heads or bodies of animals. The fifth execution was directed against faith in these gods.

So, The animals of Egypt suffered a pestilence, but among the Israelites not a single animal died: Exodus 9:7 “Pharaoh sent to find out, and behold, none of the livestock of Israel died.” It is worth keeping in mind that the expression “all the livestock of Egypt died out” does not mean that literally all the livestock in Egypt died out. After all, the next sixth plague also affected animals (verses 8-9). The expression “all the cattle of Egypt died out” means all the cattle that were in the fields. It was he who died from the pestilence. Moses warned Pharaoh about this in verse 3, “the hand of the Lord will be on your livestock that is in the field.”

SIXTH PECUTION: BOLDS

Exodus 9:8-12“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take a handful of ashes from the oven, and let Moses throw them towards heaven in the sight of Pharaoh; and dust will rise throughout all the land of Egypt, and there will be inflammation with boils on people and livestock throughout all the land of Egypt. They took the ashes from the oven and appeared before the Pharaoh. Moses threw it to heaven, and there was inflammation with boils on people and on livestock. And the wise men could not stand before Moses because of the inflammation, because the inflammation was on the wise men and on all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”

Many theologians It is believed that it was something called smallpox. This execution affected both people and animals, and even sorcerers after Moses threw the ashes to heaven at the word of the Lord God.

The order to throw up the ashes taken from the oven is related to one of the ancient religious customs of Egypt. Ashes blown in the wind from sacrifices in honor of the god Set (the god of evil and failure), according to the belief of the Egyptians, averted evil, the evil eye or damage from all those borders where it fell. But now abandoned by Moses the ashes carried to the sky, in denunciation of Egyptian superstition, not prosperity and well-being, but a curse from the God of Israel, and caused abscesses on the bodies of people and livestock.

Besides everything else, the fact that the sorcerers could not protect themselves and the pharaoh from abscesses on the body was evidence of the powerlessness of the Egyptian healing gods led by Isis, who could not prevent the sixth plague sent to Egypt by the God of Israel.

SEVENTH PLEASURE: HAIL

It should be noted that it was not just hail, but very large hail: supposedly the size of an orange. In addition, this hail was accompanied by lightning. Lightning is spoken of as fire in Exodus 9:23-25 ​​“And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the Lord made thunder and hail, and fire poured out upon the earth; and the Lord sent hail upon the land of Egypt; and there was hail and fire between the hail, very great hail, such as had not been seen in all the land of Egypt since the time of its inhabitants.”

Elsewhere it is directly written, that the hail was accompanied by lightning: Psalm 77:47-49 “...their grapes were beaten with hail, and their sycamores with ice; their cattle were given over to hail, and their flocks to lightning; He sent upon them the flame of His wrath, and indignation, and wrath and disaster, an embassy of evil angels.”

Before the hail started God gave the Egyptians a very merciful warning to gather their flocks and take them to shelter. And then hail fell throughout all of Egypt and destroyed everything: verse 25, “from man to beast, the hail struck down all the grass of the field, and broke down all the trees in the field,” but in the region of Goshen (or Goshen), where the Jews lived, there was no hail .

The amazing thing about this execution was that those of the Egyptians, “who feared the word of the Lord, hastily gathered their servants and their flocks into houses” (verse 20), and thus saved both their slaves and livestock from death. Thereby, The Lord God demonstrated to Pharaoh and all of Egypt that life awaits those who obey God, and death awaits those who resist God.

Besides everything else, This execution was directed against the gods of the sky, air, rain and fertility, whom the Egyptians led by Pharaoh fanatically worshiped, and who were unable to protect their people from this execution. However, Pharaoh hesitated and continued to harden his heart.

EIGHTH PECUTION: LOCUST

The locust punishment was one of the most terrible. The locusts swooped in in large clouds and ate all the greenery that had survived the seventh plague. And at the end of the day, locusts with a stench covered the ground 12 cm thick.

This execution was primarily directed against the gods of the earth, harvest and fertility. Here are just a few of them: Osiris - the god of the vital forces of nature and fertility, the ruler of the underworld; Ptah (Ptah) – god of the fertility of the earth; Apis is a symbol of fertility; Min – god of fertility, producer of harvests; Nehebkau is the god of time, fertility and the giver of food. The Egyptians saw that all these numerous deities were unable to protect their people from the next execution of the God of Israel, as a result of which the entire country was left without a harvest and was practically doomed to a terrible famine.

After this, even Pharaoh's servants convinced of the need to release the Jews: Exodus 10:7 “Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will he torment us?” let these people go, let them serve the Lord their God; Don’t you still see that Egypt is perishing?” The sudden appearance and disappearance of plagues on such a vast scale according to the word of Moses served as proof of the power and might of God.

The striking achievement of this execution was the recognition by Pharaoh of his own powerlessness and sinfulness before the God of Israel, as well as the powerlessness of the Egyptian gods to protect their gardens and fields from the invasion of locusts: “ Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you; Now forgive my sin once again and pray to the Lord your God that He will only turn away this death from me” (Imchod 10:16-17).

NINTH PLEASURE: DENSE DARKNESS

Exodus 10:21-27“And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out your hand to heaven, and there will be darkness in the land of Egypt, even tangible darkness. Moses stretched out his hand to heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout all the land of Egypt for three days; they did not see each other, and no one rose from his place for three days; And all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Pharaoh called Moses and said: go, serve the Lord, let only your flocks and herds remain, and let your children go with you.

But Moses said: give also into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the Lord our God; let our herds go with us, not a hoof will remain; for we will take some of them as a sacrifice to the Lord our God; but until we get there, we do not know what to sacrifice to the Lord. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not want to let them go.”

Having punished Egypt with darkness, God belittled and laughed at the Egyptian deity Ra, the sun god. Midnight darkness over Egypt lasted three days. And where Israel lived, it was light. “The three-day darkness that enveloped Egypt served as obvious proof of the powerlessness of the supreme god Ra, the sun god, who had now submitted to the will of the Almighty and was unable to give his admirers even a particle of light” (Lopukhin’s Explanatory Bible).

In addition to the supreme god Ra, Other gods of the sun and light were also put to shame, such as: Aten - the god of the sun, was depicted in the form of a solar disk, the rays of which ended in open palms. Horus (Chorus) acted in two forms: as the ruler of the heavens, the king of the gods, the god of the Sun, and also as the earthly king, the pharaoh. He was depicted as a falcon, a man with the head of a falcon, a winged sun. Its symbol is a solar disk with outstretched wings.

Atum is the god of the evening setting sun. Khepri is the god of the morning, rising sun (in contrast to Ra - the daytime and Atum - the evening). Mnevis, a deity in the form of a black bull, was revered as the living embodiment of the sun god and was depicted with a solar disk between his horns.

TENTH PLEASURE: DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN

This was the most terrible punishment for the Egyptians. But if it were not for this execution, the Jews would have been slaves in Egypt to this day.
The tenth plague was aimed, firstly, at the protector gods of the pharaoh (such as the god Horus and the goddesses Satis, Sikhmet and Uto), as well as the last deity of Egypt - the pharaoh.

“The pharaohs were the “servants of Horus”, the successors of his power over Egypt. Horus protects the king with his wings (on the statue of Pharaoh Khafre, a falcon is depicted on the back of his head, covering his head with its wings). The name of Horus was included as a mandatory component in the five-part title of the Pharaoh's tour."

Since ancient times, pharaohs were revered as gods. And many Egyptian gods were considered pharaohs in the past (such as Min and Horus).

But the Lord dispelled the superstition that pharaohs are or become gods. Pharaoh's failure to protect his people and his own family from the death of his firstborn son belied Pharaoh's claim to be a god.

Among other things, the tenth plague, according to many theologians, is the Lord God’s revenge for all the Israeli babies killed in Egypt.

God's punishment, by definition, must be a hundred times more sophisticated and terrible than any execution invented by people. Earthly rulers could execute hundreds, thousands of people, and heavenly rulers could execute entire nations. This is exactly what the Almighty did to the Egyptians when their pharaoh refused to let the Jews leave Egypt.

However, scientists doubt that the terrible troubles that befell Egypt were caused by the will of heaven, and explain them by completely earthly reasons.

According to the biblical Book of Exodus, the ancient Israelites suffered under the oppression of the Egyptian pharaoh and did not know how to escape from it. And then the Lord appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush (flaming thorn bush) and commanded him to free his people from slavery and lead them to the Promised Land. Moses and his brother Aaron came to Pharaoh and demanded in the name of the Lord to release the Jews from Egypt. The pharaoh had his own gods that he worshiped, so he only laughed at the threat of punishment from some Christian God. And he refused the petitioners. I found a scythe on a stone. The Christian God sent 10 terrible plagues on the Egyptian people before the Pharaoh yielded to him.

The Mystery of Papyrus

Modern scientists have not only established that the troubles that befell Egypt are not fiction, but also found out when they occurred. Thanks to the translation of an ancient papyrus written by an Egyptian named Ipuwer and kept in the Leiden Museum in Holland, it was established that Egyptian executions took place during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II and his son Merneptah.

But the main thing is that scientists have proven that they were caused by completely natural reasons. A group of climatologists who studied the weather conditions of antiquity found that under Ramesses II there was a sharp change in climate from warm and humid to cold and dry, which could have resulted in a number of natural disasters.

First, before the eyes of the pharaoh, “the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died out, and the river stank.” But Pharaoh decided that the reason for this was not the Lord’s punishment, but just witchcraft, and did not let the Jews go. In the Book of Exodus, the bad advisers who proved to Pharaoh that the troubles that befell Egypt were not the wrath of God, but witchcraft, were the Egyptian sorcerers Jannius and Jambres.

Modern scientists are confident that there was no witchcraft involved. One type of cyanobacteria, when dying, turns the water red and reduces oxygen levels, causing everything in the water to die and make it undrinkable.

The second plague is associated with the invasion of toads: “The toads came out and covered the land of Egypt.” Moreover, they did not just go out, but acted as promised to Pharaoh: “They will go out and enter into your house, and into your bedroom, and into your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens, and into the kneading bowls.” yours." Scientists justified this by the fact that after a lack of oxygen formed in the Nile due to cyanobacteria, the tadpoles’ survival system turned on. Their thyroid gland produced large amounts of growth hormones, and the tadpoles turned into frogs twice as fast. This also led to an invasion of frogs.

Another plague was associated with a large number of midges: “All the dust of the earth became midges throughout the whole land of Egypt.” The Magi retreated and asked Pharaoh to release the Jews to all four directions, but he remained adamant.

The multiplied frogs were unable to feed themselves and died; even earlier, the fish died due to cyanobacteria. As a result, in the absence of natural enemies, midges began to multiply intensively. And then it says: “A multitude of dog flies flew into the house of the Pharaohs, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: the land perished from the dog flies.”

It is not known for certain who these dog flies were. It is generally accepted that these were insects that combined the properties of flies and dogs. They flew like flies, but attacked with the frenzy of a dog. Most likely, the dog flies meant gadflies.

Their invasion was due to the same reasons as the massive attacks of midges on people and animals. Moreover, in some sources, midges and dog flies acted together during the period of the third plague, and the fourth plague was the invasion of wild animals and birds of prey that tried to penetrate the homes of the Egyptians and did not allow them to go outside.

Continued misfortune

The list of Egyptian executions also mentions the fact that all the Egyptians' livestock in the field died out; only the Jews were not affected by the attack. This can be explained quite simply: the livestock pestilence was caused by an invasion of midges and dog flies, carriers of diseases. Next to this is a mention of how the bodies of the Egyptians and their animals were covered with terrible ulcers and boils. But here, too, the culprit was skin diseases in people, which were also caused by bites of midges and dog flies.

The seventh plague of Egypt was hail. It is said this way: “And the hail destroyed all the land of Egypt, everything that was in the field, from man to cattle, and the hail destroyed all the grass of the field, and broke down all the trees in the field.”

Scientists believe that the culprit of this disaster was the eruption of the Santorini volcano in the Mediterranean Sea, when a huge cloud of dust was blown by the wind towards Egypt. The water, combining with particles of volcanic dust, turned into hailstones, which fell to the ground.

It is not surprising that soon after this the country was overcome by locusts, “And the locusts attacked all the land of Egypt and lay throughout the whole land of Egypt in great multitudes... and they ate all the grass of the earth and all the fruit of the trees that had survived from the hail, and there was no greenery left. on the trees, nor on the grass of the field in all the land of Egypt,” - this is what the Bible says about it.

Locusts are known to love a humid atmosphere to lay their eggs. Therefore, it is not surprising that after the rain and hail, she rushed to Egypt.

The next execution became a proverb: “There was thick darkness throughout the entire land of Egypt for three days; They did not see each other, and no one rose from his place for three days.”

During excavations in Avaris (Egypt), stones made of hardened lava, similar to pumice, were discovered. And scientist Max Bichler proved that these stones are from a volcano on the island of Santorini. So after the eruption of this volcano, dust and ash could well have blocked the sun for three days.

Death of the firstborn

Quite material reasons can also explain the death of Egyptian children - the eldest sons in the family. It is said this way: “At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in prison, and all the firstborn of the livestock.”

Scientists explained this by natural causes, namely the impact on the firstborns of the toxins of the fungus Stachyborys atra, which got into granaries from locust excrement and multiplied in the upper layer of grain reserves. The toxins of this fungus produce a strong poison - mycotoxin.

According to Egyptian tradition, the eldest sons ate first and received a double portion. And among livestock, the strongest, oldest animal is usually the first to make its way to the feeding trough. As a result, the firstborn among people and livestock were the first to be poisoned.

All ten executions look terrible, but the tenth surpasses them all in sophistication. Moreover, in some ways it resembles St. Bartholomew’s Night. According to legend, the Lord commanded each Jewish family to slaughter a lamb, mark the entrances to their homes with its blood, and feast in their homes all night.

The only difference from the Night of Bartholomew is that the Jews marked their houses with crosses, and not the houses of supporters of another religion, and did not kill with their own hands. At night, the angel of death descended to earth and walked across Egypt, killing the first child in every family whose house was not marked with blood. He also killed the heir of the pharaoh.

After this, the pharaoh surrendered - he allowed the Jews to leave Egypt, taking all their property. The Exodus itself began. According to experts, more than three million Jews left Egypt. Moses led them to the Promised Land, which turned out to be Palestine. And in memory of the feast during the tenth plague of Egypt, which preceded liberation from slavery, the holiday of Passover was established (from the word “passover” - to bypass, to pass).

Oleg LOGINOV

The film "Exodus: Kings and Gods" will be released in Russia

At the beginning of January 2015, another film adaptation of famous biblical stories will be released in Russian cinemas. This time the object of attention in the film is " Exodus: kings and gods"becomes Moses, referred to in the Holy Quran as Prophet Musa (a.s.). The exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and the events preceding it in Egypt itself, called 10 plagues of Egypt.

According to the Old Testament this is:

1. Punishment by blood.
2. Execution by frogs.
3. Invasion of blood-sucking insects (midges, lice, bedbugs).
4. Punishment by dog ​​flies.
5. Cattle pestilence.
6. Ulcers and boils.
7. Thunder, lightning and fiery hail.
8. Locust invasion.
9. Unusual darkness (Egyptian darkness).
10. Death of the firstborn.

The Koran speaks of nine signs regarding these events. sent down by Allah to the Egyptian people and their ruler Pharaoh as a sign that the prophet Musa (a.s.) is the messenger of God and as punishment for the reluctance of the ruler of Egypt to release the Jews to the promised land.

“We gave Musa (Moses) nine clear signs. Ask the sons of Israel (Israel) about how Musa (Moses) came to them, and Pharaoh said to him: “O Musa (Moses)! Truly, I believe that you are bewitched" ( Sura 17:101). Various events are mentioned among these signs. These are, firstly, signs of the truth of the prophetic mission of Musa (a.s.), there were two of them: the white hand of the prophet, glowing like milk and the messenger’s staff, which turned into a snake ( Sura 28:31-32).

Secondly, these are the Egyptian executions themselves (punishment to Egypt for its unwillingness to release the people of Israel to freedom). If in the Pentateuch of the Old Testament they are described in sufficient detail, then the Koran speaks about them briefly. This suggests that in this matter the Almighty makes it clear to us that there are no special discrepancies with the Bible. And the last sign is the parting of the sea before the Jewish people, along the dry bottom of which they walked to escape the Egyptian army, and the sudden flooding, which destroyed the army of Pharaoh along with himself.

The Egyptian plagues themselves are occupied by 6 of the nine above-mentioned signs of God.

“Allah sent even greater disasters upon them: a flood (“tafa”), which covered their villages with water, and locusts, which devastated their land. Allah also sent insects to them, which caused great harm to fruits, plants and animals. He sent toads against them, which quickly spread everywhere and did not allow people to live in peace. Allah sent diseases to them in the form of bleeding wounds on the body and blood that becomes contaminated and cannot be purified, and blood that causes paralysis, and blood in the urine, and various similar diseases. Even the water they used in daily life turned into blood. Allah sent these calamities upon them as clear signs, but they were not bothered by it, their hearts turned to stone, their conscience disappeared, and they deviated from the faith and from returning to the Truth of Allah. They became proud and became unfaithful sinners" ( Sura 7:133).

That is, this is a flood, an invasion of locusts, an invasion of insects (lice), an invasion of toads, and the punishment of blood (the transformation of all water, and even milk, into blood). But according to many interpreters, there is reason to believe that in the Koran, the missing punishments may well be encrypted under the general name of the first punishment - “tafa”, which literally means " all-encompassing disaster».

For convenience, many translators of the Koran prefer to translate such an obscure expression as “flood”, and yet under this name one can also include those Egyptian plagues that are not directly mentioned in the Koran (Egyptian darkness, Thunder, lightning and hail of fire, death of the firstborn, pestilence of livestock ). This is particularly indicated by the following lines from the Holy Qur'an: “We punished Pharaoh and his people with drought and lack of fruit, decreased fruit and hard years - maybe they will come to their senses and understand their weakness and the weakness of their cruel ruler before the power of Allah. And then, perhaps, they will come to their senses and will not be unfair to the children of Israel, and will accept the call of Musa - peace be upon him! - to faith in Allah" ( Sura 7:130).

And recent research by scientists suggests that the Egyptian executions actually took place, which is confirmed by a number of evidence. Moreover, German biologists and climatologists concluded that the root cause of most disasters was precisely drought, which is exactly what the Holy Quran tells us about in the verse given to us above. Researchers discovered traces of a sharp climate change while studying stalagmites in caves in the Nile Delta. According to scientists, after a drought caused the Nile to become shallow and slow, the algae Oscillatoria rubescens multiplied in the dirty, slow-moving water, causing the river to turn red.

Because of this, the fish that ate the eggs of toads and frogs died, thus controlling their numbers. As a result, the number of amphibians exceeded all reasonable limits and they came onto land in huge numbers. Their death, in turn, led to a catastrophic proliferation of blood-sucking insect larvae. This, in turn, led to the rapid spread of infectious diseases, causing a sharp increase in the mortality rate of both animals and people. Even the Egyptian darkness - a long night lasting three days, is explained by the eruption of the Santorini volcano, due to which heavy substances and ash were concentrated in the atmosphere and covered the Sun.

That is, here we again find scientific evidence of the truth of divine revelations in the Holy Quran, and the sequence of these events, where drought is called the first disaster, is also confirmed by scientific research.

Ilnar Garifullin

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